Auto sales down 15 pct. in May: VAMA

Hanoi (VNA) - The Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA) has reported that its members posted a 15 percent month-on-month decline in automobile sales in May to 25,585 units, due to the impact of COVID-19 and a shortage of semi-conductor chips for the industry.

Its members sold 17,581 passenger cars in May, 7,482 commercial vehicles, and 522 special-use vehicles, falls of 14 percent, 16 percent, and 33 percent, respectively, against April.

Sales of domestically-assembled vehicles were down 20 percent month-on-month to 13,825 units, while those of completely-built-up (CBU) vehicles fell 7 percent to 11,760.

In the January-May period, VAMA members sold 126,894 vehicles, up 53 percent against the same period last year, with a 51 percent rise seen in the sales of passenger cars, 56 percent in commercial vehicles, and 59 percent in special-use vehicles.

These figures do not fully reflect the situation in Vietnam’s automobile market, however, as they do not include sales of brands such as Audi, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Subaru, Volkswagen, and Volvo.

A representative from TC Motor said the company sold 6,053 vehicles in May and 28,477 in the first five months of the year. It led all brands in May sales, followed by Toyota with 5.139, Kia 3,336, Mazda 2,426, Ford 1,666, and Honda 1,423.

Toyota Vios was the best-seller during the month, with sales of 1,789, followed by the Hyundai Accent with 1,620.

Industry analysts said that along with COVID-19, a shortage of semi-conductor chips in both the global and domestic market will continue to slow down production at automobile manufacturers over the remainder of 2021 and even into 2022./.